Health Food Lover

Recipe: 2 Ingredient Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Michelle — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:07:03 +0000

This Raw Chocolate Mousse is lusicous, creamy and a ‘guilt-free’ treat (though I don’t think any treats should induce guilt!). It doesn’t contain any sugar (other than those naturally present in the coconut ‘meat’) but is still really delicious!

Recipe: 2 Ingredient Raw Chocolate Mousse

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free and sugar-free.

I found the mousse was sweet enough for my taste without any sugar added in it, as coconut cream I find naturally as a sweet taste. However if you find that is isn’t sweet enough for you, try adding

Makes: 1 serve

Ingredients:

1/2 – 1 C. coconut cream from a young coconut (Click here to learn how to make it)

1/2 – 1 Tbsp. cacao powder (or carob powder), sifted (I found about 1/2 Tbsp was good for me, but you may like a much stronger chocolately taste so feel free to increase it to your linking) or for those who are sensitive to caffeine try using carob powder

optional extras: dried shredded coconut, cacao nibs, walnuts, pitted cherries, sliced strawberries etc.

How to:

Make the coconut cream (or use store bought coconut cream).

Mix in the cacao powder into the coconut cream until smooth and creamy (you can can blend it in a blender or food processor for a really creamy consistency).

Pour into a container and chill in the fridge until firm.

Add any optional extras on top of the mousse.

Enjoy!

Variations:

Raw Cherry Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add in a few pitted cherries along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy.

Raw Peppermint Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add 2 or 3 fresh mint leaves along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy. You might like to use Chocolate Mint leaves instead of regular mint varieties.

Raw Dark Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add an extra tablespoon of cacao powder and follow the rest of the instructions above.

Raw Carob Mousse: Follow the directions as above and use carob powder instead of cacao powder.

Michelle

© Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

How to Make Dairy-Free Coconut Cream from a Young Thai Coconut

Michelle — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:15:26 +0000

I love coconut! There are so many ways to use coconut in different recipes both sweet and savoury. If you have never used a young coconut have a little read about them.

Also if you’ve never opened a young coconut, here is the tutorial I wrote on how to do that (click the small picture below):

How To Open A Young Coconut

Here are other recipes that feature coconut:

How to make ‘Instant’ Coconut Ice

Recipe: Tropical Whole Fruit Juice + How To Make Juice In A Blender (Video & Recipe)

Homemade Bounty Bars (With Real Food Ingredients)

How to Make Dairy-Free Coconut Cream from a Young Thai Coconut

How to Make Dairy-Free Coconut Cream from a Young Thai Coconut

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, sugar-free , egg-free and gluten-free. Also no BPA (Bisphenol phosphate) as you would get from canned coconut cream!

This coconut cream freezes well.

Makes: about 1/2- 1 C. of coconut cream

Ingredients:

Coconut ‘meat’ from one young thai coconut

2 Tbsp. coconut water from the young thai coconut (or enough coconut water to make a creamy consistency)

1 tsp. lecithin granules (non-gm soy or sunflower lecithin granules) (optional- it makes it extra creamy)

How to:

Scrape out the coconut meat from a young coconut. Add it to a food processor or blender along with the coconut water. Add lecithin if using and blend until you get a thick coconut cream! Easy! Use however you may use coconut or a dairy-based cream.

You can use it on:

A fruit salad mixed with passion fruit

Michelle

Recipe: Tropical Whole Fruit Juice + How To Make Juice In A Blender (Video & Recipe)

Michelle — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:00:23 +0000

The last time I posted a ‘whole fruit juice’ it was the Icy Whole Watermelon Juice (below).

Here is a new recipe for a whole fruit juice, this time a delicous tropical whole fruit juice.

Making a Whole Fruit Juice in a blender keeps the fibre in rather than excluding it.. It’s really simple to make these juices (and you don’t need a juicer to make them): just add fruit to a blender and plenty of water and blend until it is the consistency of a juice. Easy!

HealthFoodLover.com: How To Make A Whole Fruit Juice In A Blender (No Juicer Required)

You can really use any fruit. Some great ones to try are: watermelon, orange, strawberry or mango; basically any fruit that you like the taste of in a juice would work this way.

Did you know: Pineapple has a special constituent called Bromelain which can help improve digestion of protein and it is also anti-inflammatory?

Here is a Whole Fruit Juice I enjoyed a few days ago: coconut water with coconut meat and frozen pineapple all blended together.

You can even add some green veggies (like spinach or kale) to make a green smoothie. Here are some of my favourite green smoothies:

Pear, Mint and Ginger Green Smoothie

Mango Green Smoothie (my personal favourite!)

For more delicious green smoothie recipes have a look at the recipe index.

For this posts recipe you will need some coconut water from a young coconut. If you’ve never opened a young coconut (or you don’t know how) have a look at the video I made below:

Recipe: Tropical Whole Fruit Juice

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan/vegetarian. This may not be suitable with those for those on a calorie-controlled diet and those who need to carefully monitor their blood sugar levels. Please read the disclaimer.

Ingredients:

1 C. of coconut water

1/2 C. frozen cubes of pineapple*

the pulp of two passionfruit

How to:

In a blender add the coconut water, frozen pineapple cubes and the 2 passionfruit. Blend until smooth. Serve over ice and enjoy this tropical treat!

*I like to peel a whole pineapple, chop it up a into cubes and freeze the cubes in a zip lock bag. That way I have fresh (albeit frozen) pineapple whenever I want to make this whole fruit juice.

Michelle

Recipe: Coconut-Water Marinated Thai Beef Salad on Cabbage Leaves

Michelle — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:00:27 +0000

Here is a delicious and fresh thai beef salad recipe.

Recipe: Coconut-Water Marinated Thai Beef Salad on Cabbage Leaves

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free and gluten free.

Vegan/Vegetarian Options: This recipe can exclude animal products if you use tempeh instead of beef.

Serves: 1 or 2 as an entrée.

Ingredients:

The Coconut Marinade:

1 porterhouse steak, cut into chunks or long strips (depending on what you like) OR use tempeh instead

1/2 lime, juiced

a dash of tamari* (tamari is a wheat-free soy sauce)

a dash of toasted sesame seed oil

a dash of fish sauce

3 Tbs. fresh coconut water (from a young coconut)

1/2 tsp. mashed ginger

fresh coriander leaves

fresh mint leaves

fresh red or green chilli, finely sliced to taste

1/4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper

coconut oil

To make the salad:

1 or 2 cabbage leaves

1/2-1/2 fresh red onion, peeled and finely sliced

1/2 cucumber, cut into cubes

1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks

extra mint leaves

extra coriander leaves

2 spring onions, finely sliced (white part only)

sesame seeds

a bit of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

*If you prefer not to include tamari (a kind of soy sauce) that is fine, just add some extra coconut water.

How to:

Make the marinade by combining all the marinade ingredients. Then add the meat to the marinade, cover it and leave it in the fridge for a few hours. After it’s marinated cook the beef. While it’s cooking, prepare the salad by putting the cabbage leaves on a plate, add the red onion, cucumber, carrot, mint, coriander leaves and sesame seeds. When the meat is cooked add it to the salad and drizzle it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Michelle

How To Open A Young Thai Coconut (With Video & Pictures) + Info on Coconuts

Michelle — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:30:10 +0000

Update 29/1/12: I originally posted this in 2009, but I’ve since updated the information and I’ve made a video! So I hope you enjoy this post!

Why would you want to open a young thai coconut? Because then you can get to the coconut water and coconut meat! Coconut water from a fresh coconut is so much nicer than any bottled coconut water. So I enourage you to try opening a young thai coconut for yourself, but of course be careful!

Some information on Coconut Water and Coconut Meat:

Coconut water is the liquid inside the coconut. You can drink the coconut water and use the coconut meat in smoothies or even add to
a fruit salad or curries. You can also blend together water and coconut meat to make your own coconut milk!

If you fancy yourself a fermentation fetishist try having a go at making Coconut Water Kefir (pronounced Ke-feer) using water kefir grains.

Coconut Nutrition:

According to Simonne (2004) young coconut water contains a high amount of calcium. Mature coconuts also have a high Iron content.
It also has high amounts of magnesium, potassium and phosphorous (USDA, 2004). Coconuts have a high amount of saturated fat. The type of saturated fat in Coconuts are actually medium chain fatty acids (MCFA).

HealthFoodLover.com Video: How To Open A Young Thai Coconut

Tutorial: How To Open A Young Thai Coconut

How to Open a Thai Young Coconut

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You will need:

1 young thai coconut

A damp tea towel

A sharp knife (or a sharp potato peeler)

A chopping board (plastic or wooden)

A jugg or glass jar

A bowl and a spoon to dig out the coconut water

Get your equipment ready. Place the damp tea towel under the wooden board (it helps board from moving).

Put the coconut on the side and shave, peel or slice the outside of the coconut husk until you get close to
the hard brown part of the coconut under the husk.

Now balance the coconut upright . With the corner of the knife carefully hit the coconut towards the top of the coconut and make four hits around the coconut.

With the four holes now just made, svivel the knife around till it makes a circle and you are able to take the circle
off as if its a lid. (Be very careful!).

Drain the coconut water into a glass or jar.

Scoop out the coconut meat and use however you like.

References:

Discuss Cooking, 2007, Uses for coconut meat, http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/uses-for-coconut-meat-38748.html, viewed 3/8/2009.
Shilhavy, B, http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/coconut_oil_healthy.htm
Simonne, A, Bobroff, LB, Cooper, A, Poirier, S, Murphy, M, Oswald, MJ, Procise, C, 2004, ‘FCS 8525 South Florida Tropicals: Coconut’, University of Florida, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HE618, viewed 3/8/2009.
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16-1, 2004, Nutritional Facts-Coconut, http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/nutrition.pdf viewed 3/8/2009.
Yong J, Ge L, Ng Y, Tan S, 2009, ’The Chemical Composition and Biological Properties of Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) Water’, Review, Molecules, 14, 5144-5164, (click to download: coconut water composition )

Have fun (but be careful!) and enjoy your fresh coconut water and coconut meat!

Michelle

Recipe: Slow-Cooked Eggplant, Mushroom and Swiss Chard Curry

Michelle — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:00:12 +0000

Even though animal products can be beneficial in the diet, it can be good to vary ones diet by having some vegetable-based dishes every now and again. Here is recipe for a vegetable curry that I made last week which I’m sure you’re going to love!

Recipe: Slow-Cooked Eggplant, Mushroom and Swiss Chard Curry

Allergen info/Recipe info: This recipe is vegan-friendly, vegetarian-friendly, dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. coconut oil or butter

2 onions

3 small cloves of garlic

1 tsp. fresh grated ginger

1.5 tsp. turmeric root powder

1/2 tsp. coriander seed powder

1/2 tsp. cumin seed powder

1/2 lemon grass (the lighter part only)

1 large eggplant, chopped into large chunks

1/4 pumpkin, peeled and chopped

100g cup mushrooms, washed and cut into quaters or half

fresh coriander/cilantro stems, washed and chopped

2.5 C. water or vegetable stock or bone broth

1 bunch swiss chard, leaves torn off the stems

400ml coconut milk

fresh coriander leaves

1/2 a lime

salt and pepper

How to:

Heat a large pot and add the coconut oil. Chop the onions into small pieces, crush the garlic and cook both of these together until the onions are translucent.

Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and fresh ginger. Stir it to prevent it burning and saute it for a few minutes. Turn off the heat.

Chop off the top part of the lemongrass and discard it. Finely slice the lemongrass and then put it in a mortar and crush it with the pestle until you get a paste-like texture. Add this to your pot.

Prepare the eggplant by chopping it into chunks. Peel and chop the pumpkin into chunks. And wash and cut the mushrooms in quaters. Add these three ingredients to the pot to and cook for a few minutes.

Add the water or bone broth along with the fresh coriander stems. Leave this to simmer on medium for 4 hours or low for 6 hours (I cooked it for on low for 6 hours) or until all the veggies are soft, but not mushy.

In the last 15 minutes of cooking pour in the coconut milk into the curry and add the torn swiss chard leaves. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes more or until the swiss chard has wilted. Add fresh coriander leaves, a sprinkle of lime juice and season the curry with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Variations:

This curry is a low-protein meal so you if you would like to increase the protein content you can try the following:

Try cooking this with a cup of soaked or sprouted lentils. The lentils need to be added around the same time as the eggplant.

Try adding (around 500g-1kg) of beef to the recipe, again adding it at the same as the eggplant.

Looking for other eggplant recipes? Try these Baked Eggplant Chips with Tahini, Lemon and Honey Dip.

What are you favourite ways to cook eggplant?

Michelle

Recipe: Lime-Flavoured (Cooked) Tomato, Avocado and Capsicum Salsa

Michelle — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:33:23 +0000

Here is another fresh summery salsa recipe! The last salsa recipe I posted was a Jalapeno, Mango and Tomato Salsa with Chilli and Lime Prawns. With this recipe, instead of a raw salsa (like the previous recipe)- this salsa is a cooked one. The benefit of a cooked salsa is that you will get the nutritional benefit from the tomatoes being sauteed which allows you to have improved absorption of the Lycopene (an antioxidant). It also makes it taste delicious! Eating the capsicum bowl (which will be explained below) allows you to get some heat-sensitive nutrients as well, such as vitamin C.

Above: Jalapeno, Mango and Tomato Salsa with Chilli and Lime Prawns

Below: Lime Flavoured (Cooked) Tomato, Avocado and Capsicum Salsa

Recipe: Lime Flavoured (Cooked) Tomato, Avocado and Capsicum Salsa

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe can be dairy free, and is gluten-free and sugar-free. It can also be made vegetarian or vegan (depending on whether or not you use butter in the recipe).

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 red capsicum (bell pepper) (see directions below)

1 C. cherry tomatoes, quatered

1 tsp. butter or coconut oil

1/2 tsp. coriander seed powder

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks

~ 2 Tbsp. fresh coriander leaves

a few wild olives, pitted and sliced

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

1/4-1/2 fresh lime juice (depending on taste preference)

How to:

Cut the capsicum into three so you have two ‘cup-like’ pieces and one middle ring. Remove the seeds from the capsicum. Set the two ‘cup’ pieces aside.

Take the middle capsicum ring and chop it into small pieces. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quaters.

In a hot pan, add the butter or coconut oil and cook the coriander powder, capsicum and cherry tomatoes until just soft. Turn the heat off.

Stir in the cut up avoacdo, coriander leaves and the olives. Season with salt and pepper.

Now spoon the salsa mixture into the two capscium ‘cups’ and drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and fresh lime juice.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Recipe: Homemade Spiced Dandelion Chai Recipe + the Benefits of Bitters

Michelle — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:55:42 +0000

Are you eating bitter foods?

Eating bitter vegetables such as dandelion leaf and root, kale, rocket, amaranth and swiss chard can have a great digestion-enhancing effect! These bitter foods help to improve our digestion by increasing bile flow, increasing gastric acid and improving our overall digestive function which improves our nutritional status. It’s the bitter flavour of these foods (which sometimes we need to take a time to a bit of time to get used to) which we need to taste to get these benefits. Bitter foods also play an important role in our immune system due to the increased gastric acid from eating bitter foods; it helps to create a more inhospitable environment for pathogens (as part of our first line of defense), as well as improving how well we break down food which is important for our overall health as well.

There are so many ways to get bitter veggies in our diet!

Massaged Kale, Apple, Cinnamon and Sultana Salad

Kale, Strawberry and Goat’s Feta Salad

BBQ Kale Chips

Green Spinach Pancakes

Curried Amaranth Greens and Veggies

Kale Salad with Feta, Walnuts, Mandarin and Olives & Blood Orange Dressing

And if you need more ideas read this post: 10 ways to get more dark leafy greens in your diet other than salad.

Recipe: Homemade Dandelion Chai Recipe

Dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) is a traditional liver tonic which can also be used as a coffee or black tea substitute. Dandelion is a bitter herb, choleretic (meaning it is a substance that increases production of bile by the liver), diuretic, mild laxative and anti-rheumatic. I like to make it into a chai mix instead of using black tea which normally is used in chai.

Caution to/contraindicated with: Those on any medications, those with bile duct obstructions, cholecystitis, intestinal obstruction, those who may not want to increase their HCL i.e. gastric acid (e.g. those with reflux) and a known allergy (dandelion is from the compositae/asteraceae family) and those who are pregnant.

Recipe: Homemade Dandelion Chai Recipe

If you can get good quality organic grass-fed milk that is not a UHT (ulta-high treatment) milk then you may use it in this recipe; otherwise the next best would be organic grass-fed milk that is pasteurized or you may like to try an alternative milk such as Macadamia milk or you can just make this as a tea if you would not like to add any milk.

How to make the Dandelion Chai Powder:

Ingredients:

2 tsp. roasted dandelion root powder

1 cinnamon stick

3 tsp. cinnamon powder

1/8. tsp fennel seeds

3 cardamon pods- split and crushed

1 star anise, crushed

6 cloves, crushed

1 black peppercorn

How to:

First make the dandelion chai powder:

In a dry saucepan add the roasted dandelion powder, the cinnamon stick, cinnamon powder, fennel seeds, cardamon pods, star anise, 6 cloves and 1 peppercorn. Dry roast for a few minutes or until it smells aromatic. Add this all to a coffee grinder and grind until it becomes a fine powder. Leave to cool and store away from light, heat and moisture.

How to make a cup of Raw Milk Dandelion Chai:

Makes: 4 cups.

Ingredients:

3 tsp. dandelion chai powder

3 tsp. dandelion power, extra

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split open (optional)

1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated

1 bay leaf

4 C. filtered water

milk, to taste (as above) (or add the same quantity of water instead of milk)

a small amount of raw local honey, to taste (optional)

How to:

Add all ingredients into a pan and simmer on high until the milk and water are infused with the chai dandelion mix. Add honey if using and allow it to melt in the tea. Strain the tea through a strainer and the pour in tea cups.

Reference: A Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs by Kerry Bone (2003).

[Posted to: FBFJan27th12]

Michelle

© Copyright: 2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Recipe: Barbeque Kale Chips

Michelle — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:12:18 +0000

top: baked bbq kale chips. bottom: dehydrated kale chips.

Here is another delicious green leafy recipe to get you eating more greens and loving them too! There are so many ways to enjoy kale and other green leafy veggies. Kale chips are really crunchy and delicious and are a healthier alternative to potato chips. Try them and be amazed!

Here are some of my other Kale Chip recipes:

Kale Chips: Crispy Crunchy Greens

Spicy Kale Chips

Recipe: Barbeque Kale Chips

Ingredients:

1 big bunch of organic kale (or calvero nero)

1/2 red capsicum/bell pepper

2 roma tomatoes, sliced in half

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 onion, cut in half and peel removed

a dash of olive oil

2 tsp. sweet paprika powder

a dash of Worcester sauce

1/2 small red chilli (optional)

1 tsp. sea salt

How to:

Prepare the kale: Wash the kale and pat it dry. Then rip the leaves into chip-sized pieces away from the stem until you have ripped up the whole bunch of kale. Set the leaves aside.

Make the BBQ Sauce: Slice open the red capsicum and remove the seeds. Place half of the capsicum facing down in a baking tray along with the sliced roma tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at around 180 degrees C or until they have roasted. After they are roasted, take all of these ingredients out of the baking tray, discarding any water that has come out of the veggies. Add the roasted capsicum, tomatoes and onions to a blender. Peel the garlic and add it to the blender along with the sweet paprika powder, Worcester sauce and red chilli if using. Blend these ingredients until you have a smooth paste. Leave the paste to cool.

Make the BBQ Kale Chips: When the paste is cool, Pour it over the kale pieces. Make sure each kale piece is covered by the roasted veggie paste. Bake or dehydrate the kale (see instructions below).

To bake in an oven: Place the kale chips on a coconut oil greased baking tray. Bake at 180 degrees C (fan-forced) or until crispy and crunchy.

To dehydrate in a dehydrator: Place the kale chips on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 45 degrees C/115 degrees F for 6 hours or until crispy and crunchy.

Michelle

Recipe: Balsamic Roasted Veggie Salad with Fennel Seeds, Feta and Wild Olives

Michelle — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:01:56 +0000

Here is another way to get some delicious veg in your diet.

Recipe: Balsamic Roasted Veggies Salad with Fennel Seeds, Feta and Wild Olives

Ingredients:

4 large beetroot, raw

4 carrots, raw

1 red onion

a dash of red balsamic vinegar

1 bit of olive oil

1 tsp. fennel seeds, toasted

full-fat feta cheese, crumbled

wild olives, sliced and pitted*

fresh parsley

salt and pepper

How to:

Boil the beetroots until soft. Cool them down, them peel them and cut into 8ths. Add them to a baking tray along with the carrots, red onion. Add a bit of red balsamic vinegar and olive oil to coat. Cover the baking tray with tin foil. Bake for until the carrots and onions are soft (the beetroot will already be soft because it was boiled earlier). When the vegetables are ready, add the feta cheese, wild olives and fresh parsley in amounts that you like. Season with salt and pepper.

*The olives I used were quite small so I didn’t pit or slice them open. If you do the same, just be sure to let your guests know there are pips in them.

Enjoy!

Michelle